Premier Football Championship Division 1 Round 1
Seneschalstown 3-10 Gaeil Colmcille 0-16
Seneschalstown recovered from a poor first half performance to record an opening round win over Gaeil Colmcille in Division 1 of the Premier Football Championship on Friday night. Trailing at half time by five points, three second half goals propelled the hosts to victory in a fast-paced encounter.
Premier Football Championship Division 1 Round 1
Seneschalstown 3-10 Gaeil Colmcille 0-16
Seneschalstown recovered from a poor first half performance to record an opening round win over Gaeil Colmcille in Division 1 of the Premier Football Championship on Friday night. Trailing at half time by five points, three second half goals propelled the hosts to victory in a fast-paced encounter.
The Kells men were on top for the majority of the first half and got the scoreboard rolling with an early point, quickly cancelled out by Dylan Keating after receiving a pass from Johnny Gilsenan. The sides again exchanged points in the 4th and 5th minutes, with Joe Sheridan pointing from a mark form the hosts. Gaeil Colmcille would open up a three point lead shortly afterwards, kicking three points as their inside forwards were causing the Seneschalstown rearguard all sorts of problems early on. Indeed, had it not been for a combination of crossbar and post, the North Meath outfit would have had a goal to further enhance their dominance. Darren Laird offered brief respite for Seneschalstown, hoisting a high left footed effort over his shoulder and between the posts for the home side’s third score of the hour.
Three more Kells points followed before Eoin Finnegan kicked over his first score of the evening to keep his side in touch – at 0-08 to 0-04. In the next 5 minutes, four points were shared between the teams with Dylan Keating accounting for both of the hosts scores. Keating was beginning to have a big impact on Seneschalstown’s forward play with his driving runs at the heart of the Gaeil Colmcille defence. Sean Carey managed to kick the home side’s last score of the half, kicking over from out on the right. This score was sandwiched between two points for the visitors, who ended the half 0-12 to 0-07 in front.
While the scoring rate from both sides dropped significantly in the second half, the drama did not. Wayward shooting was a feature early on in the half, with only a point apiece for each side in the first 10 minutes of the half. Eoin Finnegan put his name to Seneschalstown’s only effort in this period.
However, either side of the second half water break Seneschalstown put their foot down and managed to get themselves three scores in a row, all of which were goals. The first two goals were a real throwback to yesteryears as Joe Sheridan bagged himself two, while the third gave us a glimpse of the future – coming from the in-form Dylan Keating. The first goal came from a high diagonal ball played into Sheridan who managed to shake off the attention of a Kells defender to powerfully fist the ball to the net. Three minutes later, Sheridan had another, winning a ball in front of his marker before turning and burying a shot into the roof of the net. That score put Seneschalstown in front for the first time, and that lead was extended with the third goal in the 50th minute. Sheridan was influential again, when a foul on him inside the large square was spotted by referee Joe Synnott. Keating put the ball down on the spot and confidently picked out the top left corner with his strike. This goal breathed life into the visitors again as they kicked two points in a row to leave as much in between the sides. With only a few minutes left on the clock, Eoin Finnegan steadied Seneschalstown again with a point, but this was answered with the final Kells point of the game. Searching for a goal that would snatch victory, the visitors would be caught with one last counter attack from the home side as Keating wrapped up the points for Seneschalstown with a final effort from play. This was an excellent win for the team to get their campaign up and running, with an away game against Skryne to come next. Also, a special mention to Conor McDonnell who made his adult debut for the club capping off a fine week for himself following on from his involvement with the victorious Meath minor footballers earlier in the week.
Seneschalstown: David Gordon, Peter Tierney, John Smith, Conor McDonnell, Cillian Lawlor, Ronan Conneely, Sean Carey (0-01), Robbie Wogan, Johnny Gilsenan, Eoin Finnegan (0-03), James Meade, Dylan Keating (1-04), Darren Laird (0-01), Joe Sheridan (2-01), David Fox.
Subs Used: Mark Fox, Teean Cummins, Eddie Meade, Ryan O’Dowd, Podge Finegan
